Ramming mechanism for breech-loading guns



Dec. 2, 1952 F. ASHWORTH ETAL RAMMING MECHANISM FOR BREECH-LOADING GUNS Filed Nov. 17, 1947 In vemon- Fred- As/zworih Roland heeley 1952 F. ASHWORTH ETAL RAMMING MECHANISM FOR BREECH-LOADING cums Filed Nov. 17, 1947 2 SI IEETS-SHEET 2 m 0W n mm fi m Wf a Patented Dec. 2, 1952 RAMMING MECHANISM FOR BREECH- LOADING GUNS Fred Ashworth, Wenham, and Roland Heeley,

Beverly, Mass., assignors to United Shoe Machinery Corporation, Flemington, N. J., a corporation of New Jersey Application November 17, 1947, Serial No. 786,504

2 Claims. (Cl. 89-6.5)

This invention relates to a ramming mechanism for breech-loading antiaircraft guns for use with ammunition which does not require fuse setting, such as point-detonating, base-detonating and armor-piercing projectiles. It is herein illustrated as embodied in a ramming mechanism of the type illustrated in Letters Patent of the United States No. 2,442,401, granted June 1, 1948, upon the application of Dabrasky, Goodhue and Taylor.

In this above-mentioned patent there is illustrated an automatic ramming and fuse-setting mechanism which delivers shells along a path alined with the bore of the gun. Power driven rolls are employed to feed the shells and between these rolls and the breech of the gun, a fuse-setting mechanism is provided which employs radially movable fuse-engaging members mounted in a carrier or cage designed to be rotated about the axis of the shell to set the fuse. The sequence of operations is such that the fuse-setting mechanism stops the shell during its ramming movement, causing a stalling of the frictionally driven ramming rolls. After the fuse-setting operation is completed the fuse-engaging members are radially withdrawn and the projectile is rammed into the bore of the gun at high speed. This mechanism is provided with a control handle arranged to throw out of operation the fuse-setting mechanism when it is desired to use the gun for armor-piercing shells or the like, and then the shell is rammed directly into the gun at high speed. Some difiiculty has been experienced, however, because of the balloting of the shell under those conditions, and when this occurred, it was sufficient to prevent a satisfactory use of the device.

An object of the invention is to provide an improved mechanism for ramming shells requiring no fuse setting and in which balloting will be avoided.

To this end and as illustrated, the drive shaft, by means of which the fuse-setting mechanism is rotated, is provided with manually operable drive-interrupting means. There still remains, however, the mechanism for moving the fuse-engaging members radially in and out and these members are advantageously employed for centering the round during its feeding movement so that balloting is avoided.

This and other features of the invention will be further described in the accompanying specification taken in connection with the drawings in which Fig. 1 is a vertical section taken at the left of the figure through the ramming mechanism parallel to the gun axis in a plane intersecting one of the ramming rolls, and then taken along the axis of the bore of the gun;

Fig. 2 is a transverse section, but on a larger scale, through the shell-engaging arms which were previously employed as a fuse-setting mechanism;

Fig. 3 is a vertical section through the center of this mechanism on the scale of Fig. 2 but with the parts in a different position;

Fig. 4 is a plan view, on a larger scale, of a manually operable disconnecting device for the rotating drive shaft of the fuse-setting mechanism;

Fig. 5 is a vertical section through that device; and

Fig. 6 is a transverse section on the line VI-VI of Fig. 5.

The illustrated arrangement is designed to ram a round of ammunition, such as armor-piercing ammunition (Fig. 1), in which a projectile I0 is carried at the forward end of a cartridge case I4. The 'gun is of the breech-loading type, and comprises a barrel 18 on which there is mounted a breech ring 20, while the latter is arranged for the vertical movement of a breechblock 22. Associated with this breechblock are extractors 24, a firing pin 26, and a lifting crank '28.

Attached to the gun barrel l8 are ribs 30 (Fig. 2) designed to slide in grooved ways 32 during recoil movement. These ways are attached to a cradle 34 tiltably mounted on a carriage (not shown). A ramming and fuse-setting mechanism of the type shown in the above-mentioned patent is assembled in a casing 31 attached to the breech ring by a single lower bolt 38 and two upper bolts 40 and 42 (Fig. 2). The operation of this mechanism is controlled by mechanism which is not here shown but which is contained within a control box 44 supported in fixed position on the cradle. It will be understood that the ramming and fuse-setting mechanisms recoil with the gun and therefore move away from the control box 44 after the gun is fired.

The ramming rolls 46 (Fig. 1) are grooved the better to fit the periphery of a round of ammunition and are provided with pairs of frusto-conical rubber covers 48 having oppositely directed apices to form the aforesaid groove. These rolls must cooperate with portions of the round (Fig. 1) which are of radically different diameters. Consequently they are supported by shafts 50 positioned in mounts 52 which may be swung in and out about the axes of vertical drive shafts 54.

Power to rotate these rolls is delivered from the control box 44 through a friction clutch therein to a horizontal shaft 58 which is connected to one of the vertical shafts 54 by miter gears 65. At the bottom of the shafts 50 and 54 are meshing pinions 62. Power is then transferred to the opposite roll through connecting pinions (not shown). Upon the upper ends of the mounts are collars 63 having short bifurcated arms I0, and the arms of opposite mounts are joined by a yoke I2 so that the rolls may be swung in and out together.

Passing through the yoke E2 and extending parallel to the axis of the bore of the gun is a lower rod 76 on which there is a guide sleeve I8 containing a spring 80 which is interposed between this sleeve and the yoke I2, thus forming a yielding connection between the rod and the yoke. This rod extends forwardly through a bracket 82 mounted on the breech ring 29 and at its forward end 84 it abuts the control box 44 when the gun is in battery position. The rear end of the rod is guided by the sleeve I in a bracket 86 which is mounted on the casing 31 in which th ramming and fuse-setting apparatus is mounted.

Above the lower rod IE and parallel to it is an upper rod 9a which is fixed to the bracket 86 at one end. Slidable with respect to the upper rod is a block 92 which is threaded on the lower rod. This forms an abutment for transferring to the lower rod the pressure of a spring 84 which surrounds the upper rod and bears against a nut 96 thereon. When the gun recoils, the forward end 84 of the lower rod leaves the control box 44, thus allowing the spring 94 to expand and move the lower rod it forward (to the right in Fig. l) to swing the roll mounts 52 outwardly.

A fuse-setting arrangement which is normally associated with the ramming mechanism just de scribed comprises pivoted jaws I08 having sharpedged disks I02 which bite the fuse ring, of a shell of the typ having a settable fuse, when the jaws are in the position illustrated in Fig. 1. These jaws are tiltable in a rotatable cage I04 in radial planes containing the axis of the gun and are held in their inwardly projecting position by links I65 connected to a sliding ring-like rack I55. In the position shown in Fig. 1, these links I66 are normal to the axis of the ammunition and hence effectively prevent outward movement of the jaws I65. Rotation of the cage I04 to turn the fuse ring, for settable fuses, is effected through power delivered to a ring gear iIB on the cage through connections to a'driven fuserotating shaft I II by way of gearing I i2 (Fig. 2). After the fuse has been set, the jaws are withdrawn by sliding the rin rack I58 axially on the cage 284 by means of a series of pinions II4 (Fig. 2) another of which is shown at I I5. These pinions ar turned by reason of the axial movement of a device including a rack H8 meshing with the pinion I I5, when power is delivered from the control box, to produce longitudinal movement of a rod I which is attached to the rack H8. This is effective to shift the ring rack I08 through the position shown in Fig. 3, in which the jaws IE5 are being withdrawn, to a position where the jaws will be outside the path of movement of the round.

In the arrangement described in'the abovementioned patent, a handle is provided upon the outside of the control box 44 and when this handle is in the fuse position the mechanism will go through the whole cycle of setting the fuse and then completing the ramming operation.

When this handle is moved to the no fuse position, then the fuse-setting elements of the control mechanism including the pivoted jaws I09 are rendered ineffective and th shell is delivered directly from the ramming rolls 46 to the bore of the gun. In the latter case the shell is not supported or centered from the time it leaves the ramming rolls until it enter the gun and there have been occasions when balloting of the shell prevented proper operation of the gun. By means of our improved mechanism, however, it is possible to leave the control handle in the fuse position and manually to break the driving connection between the control mechanism and the shaft III which rotates the fuse setting jaws without interfering with other functions of the latter. This permits the use of the jaws I09 to center the round in the position shown in Fig. 1 and then allows them to be withdrawn so that the ramming operation may be completed as in the case of a shell in which the fuse has been set.

To this end a hollow shaft driving member I (Fig. 5) is journaled in the wall of the control box 44 and has on the inner side of the box a pinion I32 adapted to be connected to the driven fuse-setting shaft therein as described in the above-mentioned patent. On the outside of the box this member has notches I34 (Fig. 4) adapted to receive tongues 35 on a vslidable sleeve I carried at the forward end of the previously mentioned fuse-rotating shaft III. This sleeve is splined to the shaft and is provided with a notched block I42 by means of which the sleeve may be locked to the shaft I I l in either the nonoperating position shown in Figs. 4 and 5 or in a forward, operating position in which the tongues I36 engage the notches I34 to complete the driving connection as when it is desired to set the fuse. The block I42 is carried in a recess formed in a knurled sleeve I44 which is rotatably mounted upon a reduced portion I45 of the sleeve I40 and the block extends into a matching recess I52 (Fig. 6) in the portion I45. The block I42 is held in this sleeve I44 by means of screws I43 and I5!) which are parallel to the axis of the shaft I I I.

It will be noted that the block I42 has grooves I54 and I55 which may be brought into position to receive a spring-pressed latch pin I58 carried in a socket in the shaft I I I. Each of these grooves I54 and I56 has a deep end and a shallow end. When the deep end of either is in position to receive the spring pin I58, the sleeve I40, I44 is held against axial movement. On the other hand as the sleeve I44 is rotated, carrying with it the block I42 to bring the spring pin I58 into a shallow portion of the recess, then the whole assembly I40, I44 may be moved longitudinally of the shaft III to bring the latch pin I58 into the shallow end of the other recess such as I56, whereupon the sleeve I44 will be turned to allow the pin to drop into the deep portion of that recess.

This provides a manually operable means by means of which the shaft III and the driving means I30 of the control mechanism may be connected for fuse ring ammunition or disconnected for armor piercing ammunition or that in which the fuse is point-detonating or base-detonating. If the sleeve I40 is moved to the right to connect the shaft III with the driving mechanism then the apparatus will operate as in the aforementioned patent. If, however, this driving connection is interrupted by moving the sleeve I40 to the non-operating position shown in Figs. 4 and 5 then the cage I04 of the fuse-setting apparatus will not be rotated. However, assuming that the gun is in battery position, the shell will be presented to the ramming rolls and moved into a position such as that shown in Fig. 1 in which it is stopped by the jaws I00.

This stopping action will stall the rolls and thence will operate through the mechanism in the control box 44 to cause a rod (not shown) in that box to move rearwardly in alinement with the rod I 29 and in so doing to cause the jaws I00 to be moved aside through the position shown in Fig. 3 until they are completely open. Then the rolls 46 of the ramming mechanism will be driven at high speed and the shell will be carried directly into the bore of the gun.

Further forward movement of the round continues until the flange IS on the cartridge case engages the extractors 24, thereby releasing the breechblock 22 and permitting it to be moved upwardly to closed position under the impulse of a spring (not shown). The gun may then be fired by means of the firing pin 26 operated manually or otherwise, whereupon the gun l8 and all the mechanism attached to it, as shown in Fig. 1, will move rearwardly or to the left by reason of the recoil of the gun.

During the recoil and counter-recoil of the gun the cartridge case M will be expelled and the jaws I80 will be moved back into the position shown in Fig. 1 and the rolls which have been pushed aside by the ammunition will be swung back into position to engage a new round.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. In a breechdoading gun, a rotatable fusesetting mechanism alined with the bore of the gun, spring-pressed retractile members on said mechanism for engaging the shell, a device for moving said members toward the shell, a shellfeeding mechanism, a drive separate from said device for rotating the fuse-setting mechanism and a manually operable connector for joining two parts of the drive to the fuse-rotating mechanism, said connector having 'a, latch to maintain said parts in spaced, inoperative relation whereby the fuse-setting mechanism may be rendered inefiective to set a fuse while still operating to center the shell during its feeding movement into the gun.

2. In a breech-loading gun, a shell-feeding mechanism designed to deliver a shell directly to the bore of the gun, a friction drive for said feeding mechanism, a fuse shaft Ill rotatable to set a fuse, a fuse-setting mechanism having a driving connection to said shaft, engaging the shell between the limits of its feeding movement for stalling the feeding mechanism by stopping the movement of the shell, said fuse-setting mechanism having pivoted jaws operating to center the shell with respect to its path of movement, a rack for withdrawing said shell-stopping and centering mechanism from engagement with the shell to permit the feed of the shell into the gun to be completed, a preset automatic apparatus for turning said rotatable fuse shaft a predetermined amount, as a unit, to set the fuse, a coupling from said automatic apparatus to the fuse shaft adapted to be separated by recoil of the gun, and a concealed, hand-set latch for holding said coupling ineffective when no fuse is to be set.

FRED ASHWORTH. ROLAND HEELEY.

REFERENCES CITED UNITED STATES PATENTS Name Date Dabrasky June 1, 1948 Number 

